A Williamson County sheriff’s deputy forced a woman to help her handcuffed boyfriend urinate on the side of a building after he was arrested last year, according to a federal lawsuit.

Dennis Farmer, a 51-year-old disabled veteran, and Linda Schlueter filed the suit Wednesday against Deputy Damon Grant and Williamson County.

Sheriff Robert Chody and county spokeswoman Connie Watson said Thursday they couldn’t comment about pending litigation. Chody also didn’t respond to a request for information about the sheriff office’s policy on allowing people under arrest to go to the bathroom.

Farmer’s lawyer, Michael Ely, said the deputy wouldn’t allow Farmer — who was arrested for a nonviolent offense — to urinate in a restroom. The deputy told Schlueter that “either he pees in his pants or you do this,” Ely said Thursday. “We are alleging the deputy, through forcing Linda to do it, used her to assault Mr. Farmer. The conduct of the deputy was outrageous,” said Ely.

Farmer and Schlueter asked for damages of more than $200,000 and less than $1 million, according to the lawsuit.

The incident took place Feb. 6, 2016, when Grant pulled Farmer and Schlueter over in a car on Pond Springs Road near Cedar Park for driving with headlights that weren’t working, according to the lawsuit. Schlueter was Farmer’s girlfriend at the time, Ely said.

Grant then arrested and handcuffed Farmer on a truancy-related charge in the parking lot of a Shell convenience store, the lawsuit said. The charge of a parent contributing to nonattendance was filed in 2014 when Farmer’ second-grade son missed too many days of school in Jarrell, according to court documents. It is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500.

Farmer pleaded guilty in 2014 but didn’t pay the required court fees or show up for required court appearances, so a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2015, according to a case summary filed in court.

After he was arrested and handcuffed, Farmer told Grant that he needed to urinate urgently, the lawsuit said. It said the deputy gave the couple the choice of Schlueter helping Farmer urinate against a wall or Farmer urinating on himself.

Schlueter then had to remove Farmer’s pants and help him go to the bathroom, the lawsuit said.

The incident caused emotional distress for Schlueter and Farmer, who was a maintenance man at the time, Ely said. “They are no longer a couple because they started to fight a lot after this incident,” he said.

Ely said the lawsuit wasn’t filed until almost a year after the arrest to give Williamson County and the sheriff’s office a chance to do an investigation, explain the policy for allowing an arrested suspect to urinate and resolve the case. None of that happened, Ely said.